The Chaos That Is My Miniature Furniture Worktable

George C. Clark's miniature furniture worktable this afternoon

Back in November I put almost all of my miniature rustic twig furniture into the Winter Arts and Crafts Expo at Evanston Art Center where it will be on display and for sale through December 23rd.  Then I was invited to take part in a 2-day exhibition and sale at Arts On Elston Gallery the weekend before last, so I spent a couple of weeks building a new stock for that show.  And after that show was over I decided to build a few more pieces while I had the "furniture factory" set up.  This is what it looks like.  There are a nearly completed new chair and Rocking Rudolph in the foreground.  There are three completed pieces from the Arts On Elston show in the background (behind the blue hot glue gun).  They are there to make sure I keep the scale of the new chairs or tables compatible with the older ones.  Soon I will put away all the tools and twigs for a while.  Underneath that tattered purple plastic tablecloth is the drawing board where I usually draw figures and landscapes, among other subjects.

Another Thank You...

Miniature rustic chairs and table by George C. Clark (table height 5 inches)

...to the collectors of my work who came to the multi-artist show and sale at ARTS ON ELSTON Gallery yesterday and today.   

Farewell, Little Rocking Elephant

Miniature rustic driftwood rocking elephant by George C. Clark (left side view)
Rocker length 8 inches

Miniature rustic driftwood rocking elephant by George C. Clark (right side view)
Rocker length 8 inches

I completed this rocking elephant yesterday morning, I photographed it yesterday afternoon, and last night I sold it at ARTS ON ELSTON Gallery, 3446 N. Albany (at the intersection of Elston Avenue) in Chicago.  The sale continues this afternoon Saturday, December 7 from 2 to 6pm.  Still available are some little chairs and tables, a garden bench, a rocking horse and a rocking Rudolph.

Thank You...

Thanks to the collectors who purchased my work during the first week of the EVANSTON ART CENTER WINTER ARTS AND CRAFTS EXPO.  At last count (several days ago now) there were only a dozen pieces left, including a Rocking Rudolph (not the one pictured below), a Rocking Horse, several Chairs, Tables, and a Garden Bench.  The sale has less than three weeks left.  Get them while you can!

Meanwhile, I am feverishly finishing a new batch of rustic miniatures to show at ARTS ON ELSTON gallery in Chicago on Friday, December 6 from 6 to 10pm and Saturday, December 7 from 2 to 6pm.  Pictures and more details to come.

'Tis the Season... for the EVANSTON ART CENTER WINTER ARTS & CRAFTS EXPO

Rocking Rudolph, miniature rustic twig deer by George C. Clark (rocker length 8 inches)

My miniature rustic twig furniture including rocking horses and the Rocking Rudolph pictured above will be featured at the Evanston Art Center Winter Arts & Crafts Expo, open free daily (except Thanksgiving Day) from November 23 to December 22, 2013 at 2603 Sheridan Road in Evanston, Illinois on the shore of Lake Michigan.  Gallery hours are 10am to 4pm Monday through Saturday, and 12 noon to 4pm Sunday.

Thanks, and Some News

My thanks to the collector who purchased my miniature rustic cup (pictured below) at the CAFFEINE VII reception yesterday.

My next exhibition of miniature rustic twig furniture will be at Evanston Art Center's annual WINTER ARTS + CRAFTS EXPO.  Details and pictures later.

Miniature Rustic Cup For Sale at Chicago Old Town Art Center

Miniature rustic cup by George C. Clark (cup height about 2 inches)   SOLD  

It's time for CAFFEINE VII, Another Stimulating Blend of Work from the Artists' Breakfast Group.  This exhibition of wall-hung art by 48 artists will be on exhibit October 8 through October 31, 2013 at the Old Town Art Center, 1763 N. North Park Avenue in Chicago.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 1pm.  In addition to the paintings, drawings, prints and other wall-mounted art in the show, each artist has created an artist-made or decorated cup to be sold as a fund-raiser for the Group.  My cup pictured above is made of bark, driftwood twigs and acorn tops.  While not dishwasher-safe, it is bargain-priced.  Come to the CAFFEINE VII artists reception from 2 to 5pm on Sunday, October 13.

Thanks!

Thank you to the collectors who bought my miniature rustic twig creations at Art on Elston over the weekend, including the deer posted below.

2-Day Exhibition at Arts On Elston Gallery in Chicago September 27 and 28, 2013

Miniature rustic twig deer by George C. Clark (antler height 9 inches)    AVAILABLE  SOLD

I will be showing my watercolors and miniature rustic twig furniture in a two day group show at ARTS ON ELSTON, 3446 N. Albany in Chicago.  The gallery is located on the corner of Albany and Elston Avenues across the street from Chief O’Neill’s Pub, two blocks east of Kedzie and south of Addison.  The exhibition will be open Friday, September 27 from 6 to 10pm, and Saturday, September 28 from 11am to 7pm.  The Friday night reception features musical guests Sean Cleland and the Irish Music School of Chicago.  The exhibition features the art of 15 artists, most of whom will be present both days.  On Saturday the gallery will be a stop on the AVONDALE ART WALK.

Furniture versus "Critters"

A review of my recent posts might suggest my miniature rustic sculpture output is turning "critter-centric," what with all the little rocking horses and reindeer I've been posting.  That's not really the case, although my rocking horse production has increased the last two years since I have been teaching my miniature rustic twig rocking horse workshops at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  Before I do those workshops I make an effort to gather bigger pieces of driftwood than I normally use for furniture that will work as horse bodies, necks and heads when cut to appropriate lengths.  In my workshop there might be 8 people including me building horses, and if we all started from scratch with raw trigs I would need to bring an enormous amount of driftwood, so I preselect and assemble 11 or 12 horse body-neck-head combinations.  Occasionally I find a body-neck-head in a single piece of wood, but usually I glue a head to a one-piece body and neck or glue a one-piece head and neck to a separate body.  Sometimes I use 3 separate pieces to make the assembly.  I also precut rockers and the little flat pieces of wood that separate the rockers and upon which the horses' feet will stand.  I do this pre-assembly to save time in my 3-hour workshop, and to avoid needing power tools in class to shape the rockers.  Once they have seen how it is done and made a rocking horse in my class, any participant will be able to gather their own materials and make another one without any help from me, but probably not in less than 3 hours.

I start the workshop by showing 2 or 3 samples of my own rocking horses (which will be added to the inventory of my work for sale at the Longbranch Gallery later) and talk about materials and tools.  Then I invite the students to select their head and body assemblies and rocker assembly parts.  I bring more of these than needed so everyone gets to choose and no one gets stuck with the last one.  Then I choose from the leftover materials and spend half an hour or more demonstrating how to add legs, rockers, eyes, ears, mouth, mane, handlebar and tail before turning the class loose to build their own.

Afterwards I bring my demonstration model home and finish it, and since I have a couple more pre-assemblies started, I'll probably finish those for the holiday shows and sales around Chicago.  So my output of critters has increased, but it's still only a fraction of the total, much outnumbered by furniture.  When I started working with driftwood twigs back in 2006 I only made critters if I found a piece of wood that was already shaped like an insult comic dog smoking a cigar, for example.  The little reindeer I posted last Christmas was one of my earliest critters.  His head and neck was a single piece of driftwood, and so was his body and tail.  I just combined them, whittled his ears, and added legs, antlers, peppercorn eyes, and a star anise seed nose for instant Rudolph.

Here is a more recent example where a beach find demanded to be both furniture and critter.

 I call this Throne of the Bat King. I found the piece of Lake Michigan driftwood that forms the back and part of one of the chair's back legs with a small bat head already growing out of its top.  I just added lead fishing weights for the eyes and pinecone petals for ears and a bit of wood above the bat's left eye.  I constructed the rest of the throne out of big gnarly driftwood chunks and decorated it with  a desert rose mineral formation in the middle of the chair's back and a couple pieces of Atlantic seashell I found in the sand at Cocoa Beach.

If you want a Throne of the Bat King you had better buy this one, because I will never find another piece of driftwood with a bat face growing out of it.  Throne of the Bat King will be in my next exhibition, date and location to be announced. at Arts On Elston Gallery in Chicago September 27 and 28.  See post above for details.

Throne of the Bat King
miniature rustic twig chair
by George C. Clark

Lake Michigan driftwood, pinecone petals, lead fishing weights, desert rose stone, seashells

height: 10.5 inches

My Workshop at the 2013 WOODLANDERS GATHERING in Mineral Point, Wisconsin

Miniature Rustic Twig Rocking Deer by George C. Clark
(rocker length 8 inches)

I thank the people who signed up for my workshop Friday, July 12 at the 2013 WOODLANDERS GATHERING at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  This year we will be making either miniature rocking horses or miniature rocking deer.  It should be a lot of fun.  There is still time to sign up for this and other classes and workshops, some of which I look forward to participating in myself.  WOODLANDERS GATHERING is a long weekend where creative people in the rustic crafts get together to learn from each other.  You can find out more about it here.

Thanks to Chicago Collectors

Thanks to the collectors who purchased my miniature furniture this afternoon (including the chair pictured at the left in this photo) at the CityNews Cafe fundraising event for the organization Hands To Help, which aids homeless people on the Northwest Side of Chicago.